Drinking Water

When the second watershed cleanup in four weeks takes place this Saturday and Sunday at Rocky Gorge Reservoir, equestrians who have been prohibited from riding on horseback trails since May will again be working to clear the very access roads to which they were banned. Volunteers say they remain eager to help the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission patrol and maintain the land that buffers the drinking water supply, even as they fight to regain use of the trails. Yet, they are feeling "very conflicted" by WSSC's Nov. 16 verbal decree that violators will receive warnings instead of citations despite posted rules to the contrary.

Baltimore city health officials have confirmed two cases of legionnaires disease at a Hampden nursing home. The two people diagnosed with the disease at the Keswick Multi-Care Center on West 40th Street began showing symptoms in September but are recovering, according to Brian Schleter, a spokesman with the Baltimore Health Department. The center is taking precautions by serving only bottled water while an investigation is under way. Legionnaires is caused by a bacterium called legionella.

A practice that separates people from creatures of lesser mental capacity is having the good sense not to befoul with waste the places where we eat. Though some of us fail to understand the importance of this concept when it comes to certain figurative situations, in literal situations, almost no one has a problem keeping the functions separate. Strangely, while keeping our food sources free of contamination is something we all attach a high priority to when it comes to our personal needs, there are times when this simple necessity of civilized behavior isn't afforded to those around us. In decades past in this country, the practice of disposing of waste by dumping it into a flowing river was considered acceptable, even though it would then become the problem of the people living downstream.

Commentator Bishop Harry R. Jackson Jr.'s arguments in favor of shale oil drilling are deeply flawed ("Fracking: Don't let fear hold us back," Oct. 12). After a summer of record flooding, we are entitled to a healthy fear of what gets flushed from old wells, industrial sites and waste water holding pits. More to the point, hydraulic fracturing to extract shale oil and gas is a frightening health threat. Dr. Walter Tsou, past president of the American Public Health Association, told the Philadelphia City Council that "politicians have explicitly avoided the public health question because if they were really confronted with it, they would stop hydraulic fracturing.

This week, Watchdog updates readers about an unresolved problem. Update: The fountain in the Druid Hill Park reservoir is going to remain out of commission for the time being. Watchdog last updated the condition of the landmark in 2009, explaining that phragmites, an invasive water plant, had clogged the fountains lines. At the time, officials with Baltimore's Department of Public Works had planned to have the fountain restored to working order in 2010. But more than two years have passed, and nothing has changed.

The O'Malley administration has decided to stop buying bottled water for state facilities where tap water is available, saying it's striking a blow for frugality and the environment at the same time. The state's "Green Purchasing Committee," formed last year to steer the government toward buying more healthful and environmentally friendly goods and services, voted Thursday to phase out the use of bottled water in state offices and other facilities, officials said. The move was hailed by environmentalists, who said Maryland's was the sixth state government to "kick the bottle," as they put it, joining Connecticut, Vermont, New York, Colorado and Illinois.

During a break in the action, my son's friend came into the kitchen, glass in hand, seeking some water to drink. He looked at the refrigerator door - but saw no dispenser there. He turned toward a corner where a water cooler might be, but saw no dispenser there. A bit confused, he scanned the room, glass still in hand, looking for something, anything, that resembled a spigot from which drinking water might flow. Finally, defeated, he asked me where, please, he might find some water.

For a jurisdiction that wants to grow but lacks adequate drinking water supplies to do so without relying on others, the Aberdeen city government's recent decision to permit the erection of underground gasoline tanks in an area close to water supply wells used by Harford County is ridiculous and downright shortsighted. The Aberdeen City Council last week voted narrowly to give the go-ahead to Royal Farms to build one of its ubiquitous convenience stores and gas stations at the corner of Newton Lane and Route 7, a half a block away from the busy Route 715 access corridor toAberdeen Proving Ground.

The earthquake and tsunami that hit northern Japan on Friday were natural disasters of epic proportions that left the country to cope with not one but two huge challenges. Many thousands perished under the towering waters that swept ashore after the first temblor and wiped away dozens of coastal villages. In their wake, millions more were stranded without electricity, drinking water, food or shelter, and communications with the rest of the country have been virtually cut off. Compounding the humanitarian crisis is the specter of an environmental catastrophe stemming from the potential meltdown of one or more of three nuclear reactors at an electrical generating plant.